The peace obligation of the collective bargaining round for the metal and electrical industries has expired. After a weak offer from the other side, IG Metall is calling for warning strikes in over 2,000 companies. The first actions already took place on Saturday night.

In the second round of negotiationsMetal and electrical collective bargaining roundlaid down the employers' associationsan offer for the first timeproposes: a wage increase of 1.3 percent from July 2028 and a one-off payment of 1 percent of the average annual gross wage in July 2027, which can automatically be waived for economically weaker companies.

Metal and electrical: First round of collective bargaining begins

With a term of 26 months and apredictedInflation of at least 5 percent over the same period would mean a massive loss of real wages. IG Metall (IGM) does not want to accept this and had already called for the first warning strikes on the night from Saturday to Sunday.

Total metal is calling for a crisis, IGM points to full order books

The Gesamtmetall capital association, the negotiator on the capitalist side,speaksabout the “longest and most severe structural crises in the metal and electrical industry since the founding of the Federal Republic”. This is how they justify their offer, which is based on “an objective view of reality.”basedshould.

The IGMarguedon the other hand, with the forecasts and figures from various economic institutes. These showed an upward trend and were “significantly corrected upwards”. Surveys among works councils have also shown that 62 percent of companies have a good to very good utilization of orders. She also refers to booming industries such as defense, aviation or medical technology companies.

The IGM describes the weak offer as “oneprovocation.” “Inflation is rising, but companies are leaving behind those who do good work in the companies every day,” criticizes IGM collective bargaining officer NadineBoguslavsky. Above all, things also prevail in the companiesLack of understanding and angerabout such a bad offer. The union wants to use a wave of warning strikesdemandsof 5 percent more wages, job security and profit sharing for economically better-off companies.

Warning strikes since Saturday night

The first warning strikes began that night at midnight, just in time for the end of the peace obligation on November 1st. At the mobile phone supplier RF360 in Munich and the tinplate manufacturer Thyssenkrupp Rasselstein in Rhineland-PalatinatelaidA few hundred workers stopped their work, marking the start of the strike week.

Warning strikes are planned for the coming week in over 2,000 companies across Germany. Already in Julywent33,000 employees in the automotive industry took to the streets after Mercedes-Benz announced that it wanted to increase weekly working hours from 35 to 40 hours.

Salary freeze until 2030: VW is putting employees under pressure before collective bargaining

The Volkswagen Group is also putting the workers on notice shortly before negotiationsunder pressure. According to information from the works council and IG Metall, the group's board of directors has instructed human resources managers worldwide to achieve “zero rounds by 2030”. This would mean real wage losses of at least ten percent for around 660,000 employees, and variable remuneration and special payments should also be reduced. The Supervisory Board has also decided to cut 100,000 jobs worldwide; four German locations will be on the brink from 2031. At the same time, VW paid out around 2.6 billion euros in dividends to shareholders in June. IG Metall sees the zero-round plan as an attempt to establish facts before negotiations begin and has announced resistance.

The post“Incomprehension and anger” over the supply of total metal: Warning strikes in the metal and electrical industriesappeared firstperspective.